Pattern 1885, Mk I cavalry sword, 1887

Made by Robert Mole and Son of Birmingham in 1887, this sword was used by a member of the 21st Hussars and Leicestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. The blade is 34 and a half inches long and one and one eighth inches wide. It has a single fuller ending eight inches from the point with the last ten inches double-edged.

This model of sword was first tested in action against the Mahdists in the Sudan in the late 1880s. Complaints were received about the blade breaking when 'making a downward cut upon an enemy's head'. Investigations of the swords already issued later showed that the blade was too weak. As a result it was replaced by the 1890 pattern sword.